title: Foot TcPO2 response to lumbar sympathectomy in patients with focal ischemic necrosis.
abstract: We prospectively evaluated all patients with superficial foot necrosis of 1-3 cm and transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPO2) values of <30 mmHg who received a sympathectomy as the primary treatment of their vascular occlusive disease. Preoperatively, and every 2-3 days in the postoperative period, measurement of TcPO2 of the forefoot was performed. Clinical success was defined as healing of the necrosis or healing of a toe amputation and avoidance of a major below-knee/above-knee amputation for 1 year. Ten patients were available for long-term evaluation. During the first 4-5 days, all patients increased their foot TcPO2 and the mean increase (23 mmHg) was significant (p = 0.04). Clinical improvement was marked by an average increase of 29 mmHg by postoperative day 10. In contrast, patients with clinical failure had only an average increase of 5 mmHg in TcPO2 by the same postoperative interval. Preoperative increase in TcPO2 by at least 20 mmHg in response to dependency predicted a favorable response to sympathectomy. In addition, sustained postoperative increases in tissue oxygen levels by postoperative day 10 also favored wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery at the Boston VA Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001785:Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous; D005260:Female; D016523:Foot Ulcer / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009336:Necrosis; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D013562:Sympathectomy; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen